


I'm a What Now?

by UnknownUnseenUnheard



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Smallville, Superboy (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-06-20 18:08:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15539991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnknownUnseenUnheard/pseuds/UnknownUnseenUnheard
Summary: In which Lex discovers he has a teenage child he doesn't remember creating, Clark is far too addicted to his secrets for his own good, Conner just wants a dad, Tim is the only sane one standing, and this was totally Chloe's fault.





	1. I'm a What Now?

A/N: Soooo, this was the result of me going off and reading every Lex/Kon/Clark fic I could get my hands on. It was going to be a one shot, but it got a little longer than expected sooooo… Three shot, I think?

Follow me on Tumblr. Same user Id as on here. That, and I am 90 percent more likely to respond there :p

Published: 8/2/2018

Warnings: General Smallville spoilers, no particular Season.

* * *

 

**Chapter 1**

**I'm a What Now?**

Lex Luthor had been having a good day. The key word being 'had'. It had started out so great too. So great that, at the time, he hadn't believed anything could detract from his good mood.

Which, of course, meant the universe had to turn around and bite him in the ass with razor sharp teeth.

Why had it started out great?

Several reasons, really. 

First of, Lex had successfully trolled Clark, aka Superman aka Kal-El by infecting the other with radiation only Lex could track, therefore putting a damper on the other's daily life. Annoying Clark was always the highlight no matter what, so this was very, very important.

On top of that, several projects where going along smoothly, Lexcorp stock was up 2 percent, and he'd finally figured out how to shut Tess up. (All it took was a dangerous mix of scotch, a few under the counter medicines, and a small little talisman Lex would never admit to owning, no matter how much he knew for a fact that the occult was real.)

Clark, Lex mused, was not the sharpest tool in the farmshed by far. The other hadn't even figured out that Lex had infected him until Lex had mentioned it. Several hours into the fact.

Lex thumped at one of his journals, the Metropolis sun shining through the windows behind him, illuminating his office space. This here was it. This here was the key. Such a simple key, such a simple thing that had kept Lex in the loop, when all else failed.

True, keeping a physical copy was dangerous, in the case that it got lost, but Lex doubted anyone but him would understand the damn thing. He'd made sure of that.

He'd kept such… Meticulous records after the Asylum. He'd kept some before the fact, of course, but after Belle Reve Lex had been adamant in keeping record on all. Having his memories erased via electroshock therapy by a psychotic deranged father put things into perspective. It really did.

Tess attempting to erase his memories, really, was a useless thing if all it took to remember where a few trigger words and a notebook full of random notations. All it took was a little push, and the memories came flooding back. Maybe not all, but enough. Enough for Lex to fill in the blanks, fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Clark Kent. Kal-El. Krypton. Kara.

Lex thumped that name, eyes narrowed.

Kara…

Looking back, Lex realized that following her lead had been foolish. Something had been wrong. Something had been wrong with Kara, but she had come to him. She had been honest with him, given him the answers Clark had always denied him. The truth.

A truth, given far too easily. Lex could see that now. Whatever he'd come across, it wasn't Kara. Not really. And, trusting her had been a mistake.

Foolish, but what was he to do? Clark had never trusted him. Hell, according to his notes, Clark had taken active action to ensure that Lex had no recollection of Clark's powers, period.

Each event alone could, of course, be attributed to coincidence. All the events, splayed out before him, however, made a deep correlation.

Who did that idiot farm boy think he was fooling?

Still, Lex liked having proof, which was why he rigged a shuttle to explode. True, expensive, but nothing he couldn't afford. Infecting Superman was childsplay. Tracking said radiation was also childsplay. And, after confirming what he had already assumed, Lex had done the good citizen thing and informed Clark of his current infected status.

Lex wasn't sure why the other was so offended. It wasn't like the radiation would hurt anyone. It wasn't even deadly to humans. All it did was mark dear old Kal-El for him so he could see him anywhere within sight of the LexCorp Satellite.

Which confirmed that one Clark Kent and Superman were one in the same.

Of course, this could mean only one thing. Lex was going to troll his old friend to hell and back. It was the least he could do to an annoying lying alien that pretended to be his friend while manipulating him the entire time. Lex had loved Clark like a brother, and Clark had taken that love and twisted it.

Lex was mature enough now to understand that it had been far more complicated than that, but still.

Lex could now see that Clark really didn't have any actual intent to conquer the Earth, but that was also beside the point.

Someone needed to keep that giant lumbering blue Boy Scout in check, and it seemed Lex Luthor was the only one actually willing to do so. He'd told Clark, years ago, that perhaps it was Sageeth, and not Naman, that was the hero of the story. Told Clark, and believed it.

Only a hero would think to stand up to an alien demigod instead of worship the ground the other walked on, like the rest of the sycophants running around this city, with Lois Lane at their head.

Lex would oppose him, even if no one else would.

Hm. And maybe Batman too, Lex thought.

Lex leaned back, considering that factor. Maybe he should get Bruce involved too? It wasn't like Bruce was unreasonable. Out of the entire so called Justice League, Bruce was the most practical out of all of them. Although, considering that the man worked with a bunch of tight wearing adrenaline junkies, that wasn't exactly saying much.

Hm...

… Nah.

Bruce was too soft, Lex realized, and wasn't that ironic? Bruce Wayne didn't seem to understand that, at the end of the day, you sometimes just have to put the rabid dog down. There was a reason Arkham was a giant revolving door of villains entering and leaving.

Besides, anyone who ran around dressed as a giant bat terrorizing people obviously was not in the right mental state. Lex would set a psychiatrist on the other if he didn't suspect Batman was mad enough to twist them to his thinking the same way the Joker had broken Harley Quinn.

Such madness and such brilliance, in combination, was not to be underestimated. Charisma was a powerful thing, one Lex understood all too well.

It was in that moment that the night went to shit. Or, perhaps, in that moment that the night went completely and wonderfully well. Later, when asked, Lex would honestly not be able to give an opinion one way or another.

How?

Simple.

The marvelous hurricane proof windows Lex had just finished replacing after Clark's temper tantrum earlier were imploded in a cacophony of shattering glass.

Spinning in his chair, Lex turned, eyes wide.

No…

Impossible.

Lex's eyes darted to his computer screen of their own volition.

Sure enough, the satellite tracking Clark confirmed that yes, Clark was nowhere near here. He wasn't even on the same continent. He was running around in Russia, of all places, because of course he was.

Heavy breathing drew Lex's gaze back. A second glance told him what those first few shocking seconds had not. The being before him was not, in fact, Kal-El.

For one, Superman had a disastrously disgusting addiction to primary colors. True, the House of El mark on the chest of the figure before him was red, but Superman would not be caught dead wearing black. At least, not in public.

Still, the resemblance was… Remarkable.

Another secret relative, hidden under the woodwork? Last Son of Krypton, bah! Utter bullshit. Lex wasn't surprised. Every other word that came out of Clark Kent's mouth was just slathered in deceit.

With those glowing red eyes, the being before him was more than likely Kryptonian. Lex wondered how quickly he'd be able to draw a piece of Kryptonite. Undoubtedly, not quick enough. Not against a superpowered alien that could move faster than the speed of sound.

Glowing red eyes and, Lex noted, glowing red stone. Glowing red stone glistening from a ring on the other's clenched fist.

It took Lex less than a second to realize what this was.

What was it with Sons of Krypton and vandalism? Gr. Superman alone did millions of dollars of property damage to Lex's facilities. Hell, half the effort put into said facilities was for the sole purpose of keeping out said Boy Scout.

Okay, so maybe some of the projects where of questionable morality, but meh. All great advances in science where.

The sight before him did confirm one thing, though. Apparently, breaking into people's homes while huffing angrily was not, in fact, a Clark thing but a freaky alien thing.

This was Kon-El. He had been right. An alien had broken into his tower, and Lex couldn't help but feel stupid for it. He'd let his defense down, believing that as long as Clark was far away, he was safe.

That was a very flawed assumption, it seemed.

The other Kryptonian. The child. Clark's supposed 'little brother' that had appeared out of literally nowhere, with powers and abilities similar to Clarks, who had gone around calling himself 'Superboy', of all things.

Really. No originality. No originality at all. Lex was convinced Lois Lane was behind that one. For a star reporter who was hailed as the greatest thing since Shakespeare graced the world with his brilliance, she was not very… Imaginative.

Kon-El was breathing heavily, deep pants escaping the teenagers lips. Those eyes of his burned red, like the demon he was. Eyes capable of incinerating Lex before he could even think of moving, think of doing anything at all.

Not for the first time, Lex considered getting a Kryptonite ring. Hm. Maybe the blue variety. True, it wouldn't actually harm a Kryptonian, but it would put them on an even playing field.

That, and the green variety tended to have wild unexpected side effects, which Lex so did not want to deal with. For all he knew, it would give him something completely ridiculous and outlandish, like hand cancer.

Blue, on the other hand, seemed to have positive health effects in humans. Because of course it did. Strange weird little rocks.

Before Lex could even process another thought, it was too late. The Teen of Steel moved, and, like the rest of his kind, it was too quick for Lex to even think of responding to it.

Hands curled along Lex's lapel, hauling him to his feet. Then, his back was slammed against a wall, dust settling around them.

This happened in less than the span of a second. For a moment, Lex had a dizzifying moment of whiplash as those red eyes glared at him.

Red… But not from fire. No. This was something else. Something different. Lex had seen this look before. He'd seen it, shining in the eyes of another, of someone else.

Ah hell. Who in their right mind would give a Kryptonian teenager Red Kryptonite?

Kon-El was panting at him, his breath in Lex's face. His expression was pained, twisted. It took Lex only a moment to realize that the boy was crying. A pathetic whimper escaped the teenangers lips.

What… What hell?

"Why… Why? Why?!" The teenager demanded, shaking Lex like a wind in the leaf. Oh hell. Lex could already feel the bruises forming on his arms. All things considered, the Kryptonian before him was being gentle(since Lex had yet to snap like a toothpick in the arms of a dangerous superpowered alien capable of catching cars with his bare hands), but still. This was highly uncomfortable.

Where was Mercy when you needed her? And Hope. And Charity. Or one of his other similarly named bodyguards that were not, contrary to the Inquisitor rumor mill, Lex's own personal harem.

More than likely scrambeling a defense. Or, waiting for Lex's command. Regardless, someone was going to get demoted for this, period. 

Tears were now flowing freely down the teen's cheeks. For a moment, Lex was reminded of Clark, and, despite himself, Lex felt himself twitch. Ah. Great. Another angsty teenager storming into his office space to yell at him for something he probably hadn't(but most likely had) done.

Was it genetic? Dear god, it must be genetic. Did Kara ever stomp into his office like this? Lex didn't have many recollections of the girl, so he wasn't sure. Probably. Most likely. Lex was two for three so far, so there was a good chance it was secretly three for three.

"Why don't you want me? Why doesn't Cl- Superman want me? Am I not good enough? Why!"

Lex blinked in utter confusion.

Okay. No. Enough was enough.

Lex shoved roughly against the other's chest. The teen let himself be pushed back, a pathetic little whimper escaping his lips.

Lex had to resist the instinctive urge to wrap the boy in his arms in comfort. Lex wasn't sure where it came from, but he didn't like it. Lex didn't do affection, thank you very much.

Lex could, of course, only assume that the boy was doing something to his mind. The very idea made something feral in him growl. Lex Luthor didn't appreciate anyone messing with his mind, ever. He'd had enough of that for a lifetime.

"Want you? What on earth are you ranting about?" Lex demanded, slowly starting to feel disturbed.

What had Clark been doing to his so called 'little brother'?

The teenager looked away, eyes latching onto the floor. The floor which was, mind you, still covered in shards the of glass from the initial rampage that had brought the child here in the first place. Lex had just gotten that replaced too. Had he mentioned that?

"Superman doesn't want me. At first, he didn't want me at all. Wanted me to go away. Stay away. Now… Now, he says I'm his brother. But… But I'm not. I'm not!" The teenager looked up at this, wide eyed and teary in a way that normally made Lex feel disgusted.

He'd always seen weakness, any weakness, as something worth of contempt.

Right now, that's not what it makes him feel at all. Instead, it makes him want to find the person who hurt this child, and beat them senseless. It was Lex want to beat Clark senseless with Kryptonite brass knuckles, over and over again.

"They made me from the both of you. Doesn't that make me your son? Uncle Ollie says that makes me your son, and Superman's son, even if I wasn't made normally, so why?" the boy cried, eyes falling shut, face scrunched in pain as he looked away.

Lex froze.

Okay. Okay. Time out.

What.

What the utter fuck.

What…

Son?

How… What… Where… What in the…

Those tear stained eyes opened, locking back on to Lex's. Nope. No. Hell to the no. Nope. Lex did not have enough time for this. He did not have the time to deal with this, to process it.

Son?

He had a son?

How… But…

With Clark, of all people?!

How in the hell…

Well, Lex supposed Clark wasn't exactly human, so maybe- no, no, what was this?

This boy… This boy… He had to lying. He had to. He had to be. Even Clark.. Even Clark wouldn't hide something like this from Lex. Even Clark with his pathological need for lies and for secrets wouldn't hide his own son from him, would he?

The boy didn't sound like he was lying though. The pain in his voice, the anguish, the hurt… It was real. Lex knew that look in the teenager's eyes. He'd seen it himself, hundreds of times while growing up. Seen it, in the mirror, when he realized again and again that no matter what he did; he just wasn't good enough.

No matter what he did, Lionel Luthor would never approve of him. No matter what he did, Lionel Luthor would never love him.

The look of a son, gazing up at their parent, desperate for affection but resigned to the fate that they weren't going to get it.

Lex stared at the boy.

The more he stared, the more he dealt dread. Dread, because; while the coloring was off, the more he looked, the more he recognized.

This… This boy…

The mirror analogy was more apt than Lex had initially assumed. More apt than anything at all, because this boy had his face. That wasn't an exaggeration either. He looked… He looked exactly like Lex had, all those years ago at Excelsior.

Well. Except for the hair bit.

This boy…

Oh god.

Oh god, he wasn't lying.

He wasn't-

Of its own free will, Lex's hand rose. He left it there, hovering above the boy's cheek. Hovering, but not touching.

"Son… I… I have a son?" Lex whispered, a broken sound of awe escaping his lips.

He hadn't even realized he'd spoken the words out loud until the boy gasped.

Son.

Lex… Lex had a son.

He was a father.

He… He had a son. A son. A child.

With Clark Kent apparently.

How in the living hell that happened was beyond Lex, because he was pretty sure Clark was male and Lex knew for a fact that he himself was male, so how they'd managed to produce a child was beyond-

Wait.

Superboy was a teenager.

If Lex was to hazard a guess, he'd say the other was around fifteen.

Fifteen…

Oh fuck.

How old had Lex been when this child was born? Hell, how old had _Clark_ been? Unless a serious dose of time or dimensional travel was involved, Clark and Lex having a child together, of all things, would mean Lex had been pretty much robbing the cradle.

Nevermind the fact that they were both male and neither of them could give birth. Wait, if that's the case, why did Lex… It was impossible, really. Impossible in every sense of the word.

Those eyes didn't lie, though. That gaze didn't falter. There was no deception in this boy. If anything, the child before him believed the words coming out of his mouth, with all his heart.

It was illogical. It was stupid. Asinine. Borderline insane. It made no rational sense, no matter how Lex tried to put it. Regardless of all of that, Lex…

Oh hell, Lex believed the kid, and wasn't that scary? There was a Kryptonian wild child breaking into his office, ranting things about paternity and fathers and things that made no sense and _Lex believed him._

Lex believed.

Lex pulled his hand back. The boy eyed him, uncertain. Uncertain, confused, and maybe just a tad bit hopeful.

Lex touched a button against the earpiece the always kept on him. There was the brief sound of static before the line connected.

"Sir?" Mercy's voice sounded on the other end.

"Stand down, Mercy. He isn't a threat. Call of whatever you've summoned." Lex ordered.

"... With all due respect-"

"With all due respect, I am your boss and you will obey me." Lex snapped, which even he supposed was a bit unfair. Mercy was only looking out for him, but still. "Cancel all my appointments. I don't want to be disturbed today. By _anyone_. I don't care if the President himself shows up on my doorstep, turn them away." Lex ordered.

"... Very well." Mercy replied.

Lex sighed.

"If it makes you feel better, Mercy, you can activate Code Blue. _Not Green._ Blue." Lex offered.

Instantly, several panels around them lifted, sliding into the walls. Superboy flinched back, gazing up in fear. A fear that was malplaced.

Well. Not entirely.

This wouldn't hurt him, not really. It wouldn't help him either, though.

Kryptonite, glowing and blue, lined the walls.

Superboy hissed.

Then, Lex moved.

The boy, now no more powered than a regular human, had no defense. Lex quickly managed to snatch the glowing red ring from the boy's hand, turning around and flinging the damn thing as hard as he could through the now gaping hole in his wall that used to be his window.

Lex was pretty sure that was a bad idea, all things considering. The ring would likely hit something, and the velocity caused by the descent alone would turn its force potentially deadly. Still, best way to solve this was to get that thing far away.

Out of sight, out of mind, out of weird alien planet radiation range.

Superboy gasped, taking another step back. Lex looked up. Red pulsed from the boy, running along his veins before fading away, leaving him gasping. Gasping, and still a bit shell shocked.

Shell shocked, perhaps, but perfectly in his right mind, which he had not been earlier.

Lex spoke once more, knowing Mercy would hear him.

"I assure you, Mercy. I've got the situation perfectly under control. As I said, I do not want to be disturbed. Thank you."

Before his overzealous bodyguard could respond, Lex touched the button again, cutting the connection. Then, he took a step forth.

Kon-El looked straight at him, fear shining in those eyes. Fear of him. Fear of Lex. Lex didn't like that. He didn't like that at all.

Stupid weird parental instincts that should not be there because none of this made any sense at all whatsoever.

Lex wanted answers. More than any other time in his life, he needed answers. Needed them, and would get them.

But, first thing first.

Lex wrapped his apparent son in a hug. Arms, clinging to the others frame. A gentle hold, meant to comfort. Lex wasn't used to such things, but, at the moment, he fealt like it would be the right thing to do.

It's not like Lex had much experience with this things, all facts considered. He'd grown up with Lionel Luthor, of all people, as a parental figure. That man's idea of an appropriate gift to a nine year old was a history lesson over the Battle of Troy and how love lead to endless carnage and destruction.

Still, this felt like the right thing to do. The sharp breath the boy took before tentatively hugging back told Lex it had been the right one.

Son.

Lex had a son.

True, he didn't know the how or the why or even the when, now that he thought about it, but Lex had a son. He had a son, and dammit, he was happy.

He felt like he could fly from the giddiness of it all. Not that Lex would try it. Superman would probably let him fall just to be a dick.

Still.

Lex needed an explanation.

Lex pulled back, gazed at the teenager currently crying into his shoulder, and spoke.

"... Explain." Lex demanded.

The boy blinked at him. Then, his expression morphed into confusion. Confusion as he pulled back.

"Explain? What do you mean, explain? You made me." The boy claimed. Or, more accurately, accused.

Great. Now Lex was being condemned for things he couldn't even remember doing. Well. Wouldn't be the first time.

"When was this? Because, I think I'd have recollection of… Child creation." Lex said, then cursed his pale complexion as he felt a blush crawl along his cheeks.

God dammit, he was not a blushing virgin! He was a man! A grown ass man.

Kon-El, bless him, did not notice Lex's dilemma. Instead, his face remained scrunched in confusion. Confusion that didn't last.

Then, much to Lex's horror, the boy's expression hardened. It hardened into a very familiar look that Lex had seen hundreds of times over the years. A look he had seen so many times that even Tess and her memory erasing ways couldn't fully gouge out.

Lex had to resist the urge to swear and bang his head against the wall.

Oh fuck. This really was Clark's kid too. He had Clark's bitch face. The one Clark would get every single time he would self righteously storm into Lex's home to condemn him for one act or another, even after Clark had completely and adamantly declared that they weren't friends anymore.

Acts that Lex had, for the most part, been totally innocent of commiting. Well. At first.

"You had me made! In the lab! The cloning lab! Don't pretend you don't know!"

Lex had done what? Wait, he'd cloned a kid? Well… Lex supposed that actually made more sense. It shouldn't have, but it did. Lex already knew he couldn't have children by the normal means.

The meteor shower had left him all but sterile, which was a real kicker right there. But, a clone child? That… That just might have worked.

But with Clark? What could have possibly possessed Lex to do that?

"When was this?" Lex demanded. Because, really, when had he done this?

The boy narrowed his eyes. Arms crossed, the child huffed. Lex twitched. His own child was giving him the third degree for something he couldn't even remember doing.

This was totally Clark's fault.

Wait…

That…

That motherfucker!

Lex had a son, and that alien son of a bitch hadn't said anything? Oh hell. If Superman thought Lex had been bad before, that Kryptonian secret hoarding lying bastard was going to get what was coming to him!

Lex began to pace up and down the office, thought entering his head and being discarded as quickly as they came.

Kon-El eyed him with suspicion. Suspicion that rapidly turned into realization.

"You… You really didn't know." he said softly.

Lex glanced at the boy.

"No. No, I didn't."

"I… Oh god, I'm sorry. The Red Kryptonite kinda takes away my inhibitions and I didn't mean to put it on, it was an accident and me and Chloe were looking through some of her old things and it was just there and I-" the boy began to ramble.

Lex lifted a hand, stopping the boy in his tracks. Wide eyed, the child- teenager- clone- whatever the hell he was- gazed up at him.

"You… You're my son. I'm a dad. I'm… I'm a dad? Since when… Since when am I a dad?"

The boy blinked at him, stunned.

Then, Lex found himself with an armful of half human, half alien superpowered teenager that he so did not remember creating.

So why…

Why did he feel a pounding in his chest, why did he feel a connection, a bond? Why did he…

For once, Lex Luthor decided that he didn't want to fight it. Yes, he didn't have all the answers. Not yet. Not yet, but he would.

But, for now, Lex had his son in his arms and he gave in, and just let himself feel.


	2. Does Anyone Ever Listen to the Sane One?

A/N: Soooo, anyone else liking the new Titans show? My favorite part so far was a Beast Boy acting like an actual teenager with superpowers and using them to get his hands on a video game he wanted.

Alsoooo, apparently, the original Young Justice is coming back to D.C., according to what I've heard. And by original, I mean the comic book team of Tim, Conner, and Bart.

Dudeeeee. Yes.

Although… The how is beyond me. Sure, Bart is back, but I'm pretty sure Conner is still out of the picture, but I haven't been keeping up with newer comics so I might be wrong.

Update: the comic is officially coming out next year, starting January.

Published: 10/16/2018

Warnings: None

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Does Anyone Ever Listen to the Sane One?**

There were very, very few things in the universe that could surprise Tim Drake.

In terms of detective skills, Tim had been told time and time again that he would likely one day surpass even Batman. The reason, of course, was pretty obvious. Tim had managed to do what no one else had, with such relative ease Tim himself had, at times, wondered why no one else had put the pieces together.

Bruce Wayne and Batman were one in the same.

Nightwing and Richard Grayson were one in the same.

How no one else had seen it was beyond Tim, but he had. He'd taken a good look, put the pieces together, and figured how they all fit.

The how, however, was the part he disliked the most: his predecessor.

Jason Todd had once been Robin, except now all he was was a body in a grave, buried six feet under in the Wayne's personal cemetery. Jason wasn't alone there, either. His parents. Bruce's parents. Nightwing's parents. Jason's mom. Stephanie Brown. All the people they had lost over the years, buried back there.

Jason's death had been the catalyst: the final piece of the puzzle. After that, it hadn't taken much for Tim to realize the truth.

Jason had been Robin.

And losing him was driving Batman up a wall. Literally.

So, Tim had done the natural response to this revelation. He'd escaped Gotham, crossed the country, tracked down Nightwing, and demanded the other return to being Robin for a bit to stabilize Batman.

…

Nightwing had not approved of costume changes and, somehow, although Tim wasn't sure how, he was the one who ended up in boy wonder tights.

Even that hadn't surprised him.

Sure, it had been unexpected, but the possibility had crossed Tim's mind. He had never bothered to entertain it until it was real, but it had been there, in the background.

It had there, so he'd been able to prepare, able to adapt.

Tim Drake was good at that.

Very few things surprised him.

So, of course, one of those few things had to be the lumbering head of his best friends antics and shenanigans.

"You did what?!"

Kon didn't seem to notice Tim's tone. Instead, the other teen was practically bouncing around the room in excitement. Tim hoped he didn't do anything particularly… Supey. Batman had a thing about Metahumans in his city, although he'd stayed quiet so far.

It was not an exaggeration to say that Conner Kon-El Kent was bouncing off of Tim's walls. The teen of steel was literally doing so, grin never leaving his face.

Although, Tim wondered if the word 'teen' still applied. More like toddler. Yes, Tim decided. Toddler of steel. He apparently had the mental capacity of one because he had, oh I don't know, thought it was A GOOD IDEA TO TELL LEX LUTHOR EVERYTHING!

Kon stopped bouncing. Instead, the Superboy landed, turning to shoot Tim a concerned look. Hands curled at his side, eyes darting back and forth, Kon looked like a kid who'd been found with his hands in the cookie jar.

"Er. Yeah. Maybe. Definitely?" Kon said. Tim blinked. Ah. Shit. Tim had been doing that thing again where he yelled his thoughts out loud. Badddd. Especially for a crime fighting teenager that ran around in bright red and green tights to fight supervillains.

"Dude. Calm down," Idiot-of-Steel continued, "Sure, he was a little freaked at first because he genuinely had no id- don't give me that skeptical look, he didn't really know!"

Tim found this hard to believe. How could Lex Luthor not have known what was going on in his own compa-

Oh. Wait.

Even Bruce didn't know all the projects in Wayne Industries. Okay. Tim could give that one to Luthor. Still, how could Luthor not notice such a big project?

The Making of Kon(™) wasn't some tiny project that could have been seeped under the rug, buried beneath the endless mounds of corporate paperwork. Kon was more than just some experiment, and if Luthor had waived him off because of that, then even Mercy Graves and her army of misnomer female bodyguard army wouldn't keep Tim from beating Luthor into a pulp.

Although, perhaps Tim should lay blame where blame was do.

Of course, to do so, he'd need a bloody Kryptonite ring, which Bruce kept locked up behind approximately 73 levels of encrypted security.

Still, how else was Tim suppose to punch Superman for being such a neglectful father figure that Kon thought  _Lex Luthor_  would be a suitable candidate for the role?

Hands suddenly found themselves on Tim's shoulders, shaking him. Startled, he looked into the other teenagers' eyes.

"Hey, Tim, stop. I know that face. I know that look. You're overthinking it. Stop it. It's fine. What's done is done." Kon said.

Tim twitched.

Knocking the hand away, Tim glared.

"What's done is done? What could have possibly it possessed you to confront Luthor in the first place?!" Tim snapped.

Kon was suddenly very interested in the floor patterns of Tim's room. Tim narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Wait a second…

Crazy impulsive behavior…

Revealing information that should not have been revealed…

Confronting a supervillain where the supervillain themselves felt safest…

It clicked instantly.

Lifting an accusing finger, Tim pointed straight at the other, "You were high on Red K, weren't you!"

"What! No?" Kon backed away, waging his head, shaking his hands back and forth frantically, face wrecked with guilt.

Yeah. Right. This boy was full of shit.

Kon paused.

"Okay, maybe a little," he admitted.

"Aha!"

"Owe! Tim! Stop that! Where'd you even get that staff from anyways?"

Tim whacked him once more for good measure.

"Why were you on Red K! You know what happens when you're on Red K! Remember last time?" Tim demanded, then blushed.

Kon also blushed. Right. They weren't supposed to, ahem, talk about that particular incident.

"It was an accident, okay?" Kon claimed. Tim let a single disbelieving eyebrow rise. "Me and Chlo were looking through some of her old school things." Kon continued. The second eyebrow joined its twin. "Don't give me that look, Chloe showing me things from when she and Clark were younger and when my parents actually got along!" Kon snapped.

Ah. Oh. So that's what this was abou-

Oh hell.

Tim recognized that look, but it wasn't one he'd ever thought he'd see on Conner. Nope. Noooo. Not going there. Nope to the no.

"You are not getting them back together!" Tim yelled. Kon tried to look innocent. Somehow, he was succeeding, despite being a lumbering 200 pound farm boy. Tim paused. "Wait, wrong words. They were never together. Er. Where they?" Tim wondered out loud before blanching.

Nope.

Not having that thought. Bad brain. Baaaaddddd.

"They were besties. Inseparable. Clark was dad's best man. Twice." Kon shrugged.

Oh wow. So they were pretty close, that was bizz-

Stop. Record scratch. Hold up. Back up a little.

"Dad!?" Tim spluttered.

Kon laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Tim groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Ah, come on! Don't you think you're overreacting Tim? What's the worst that could possibly happen?"

Tim didn't have to answer that. As it was, fate decided to do it for him.

Bruce stormed into the room as if he owned it. Which, technically, he did.

"Tim. Suit up. We have a situation down in Metropolis that will require all the help we can-" Bruce froze.

Tim looked up.

Kon was gazing at the Batman in unmasked guilt. The Batman, in turn, had his arms crossed over his chest, giving the clone an unimpressed once over before turning to look at Tim.

"Do I really need to threaten you with a chastity belt again? What have I told you about having metahumans over without alerting me?"

Tim bristled before shooting a horrified look at Kon. Ah. Good. He looked confused. Good Kon. Good ignorant Kon.

Turning, Tim shot a glare at his mentor, whose eyes were twinkling in amusement.

"You know damn well you knew the second Kon walked into this house!... and I can have friends that aren't vetted by you, you know!" Tim snapped.

Bruce did not look impressed. Kon, on the other hand, did. Leaning closer, Kon lifted a hand over his face, as if that alone would stop the Batman from hearing his words.

"Dude. I could never yell at the Batman like that. He's scary." Kon confessed in a whisper.

"He's a grown man that runs around in a batsuit in his spare time. Not very scary." Tim scoffed, arms crossed and rolling his eyes.

Bruce looked amused.

Turning around, he peered over his shoulder to look straight at Tim.

"I suppose I'll just have to send Casa to get you suited up instead then?"

Then, with a jaunty little whistle, the caped crusader stalked off.

Tim blanched.

Oh no. Nope. Not dealing with that. Noooope. Turning towards Kon, Tim made shooing motions.

Kon was not impressed. Instead, the other teen crossed his arms and shrugged.

"What?"

"Get out so I can change!" Tim snapped.

Kon raised a single eyebrow.

"You do realize I have X-Ray vision, right? If I wanted to see you naked, I could be doing that right no- I didn't know you had a birthmark there."

…

"Owe! Damn it Tim, stop hitting me!"

…

"Wait, what situation in Metropolis?!"

* * *

Chloe wondered if this was her fault. She hadn't realized she still had an old piece of leftover Red K in the box that held all her High School memories, but in her defense…

Okay, so she had no defense, but still.

Although, she supposed she maybe should have said something. Maybbbbeee.

Well.

She did hack into Luthor's tower, so there was that. Annoyingly, however, Luthor didn't keep any functioning cameras in his own office. Oh sure, there were a few set up, but somehow Luthor had rigged them to scramble all audio so no words could be made out and the picture quality was too bad to read lips.

Luthor apparently was paranoid that someone might hack his cameras. Which was totally right, but still.

Regardless, Chloe had gotten good visuals.

The image of Lex and Conner hugging it out had set off red flags. Still, Chloe had, for a brief, tiny surge of insanity, decided she would give Lex the benefit of the doubt. Chloe hadn't said a thing, just waiting for them to play out. She'd told herself that if it got out of hand, she'd step in and out a stop to it, period.

Chloe had been a fool.

"Luthor had death robots? Who even builds death robots!?" Lois demanded.

Lo and behold, Metropolis was currently under siege. The culprits?

LexCorp robots. LexCorp robots that had their LexCorp labels proudly displayed. A nice touch on Lex's part.

No one would ever believe Lex Luthor would be stupid enough to set his own robots on the city. If anything, they'd be convinced someone was trying to frame him. Conniving little bastard.

Luthor's robots were currently ravaging the city. If that wasn't bad enough, most of them seemed to be powered by glowing shards of Kryptonite. Chloe wasn't surprised. You could literally use Kryptonite for anything.

On the bright side, Luthor wasn't sticking to pure green, which would have made this even more of a nightmare. On the other hand, most of the robots were powered with a bizarre mix of green and blue with the occasional red tossed in, although the how Lex had managed it still eluded Chloe.

Kryptonite didn't just not play nice with Kryptonians. It also didn't play nice with other versions of it. Otherwise, setting Metallo on a Red K Clark in order to burn out the drug from his system never would have really worked.

But, of course, Lex had managed it.

Chloe shrieked as a robot landed right in front of her. Snarling, the robot lifted an arm, fire already glowing in the cannon… And fired.

Chloe's car exploded.

Chloe twitched. The robot smirked at her. It literally smirked. Then, it blasted off, no doubt to cause more mayhem.

On the bright side, Luthor wasn't killing anyone. On the negative side, the property damage to the city and to people's lives in general would definitely take their toll.

"Why is he doing this? What could possibly be the reason behind this? I've never been Luthor's biggest fan, but he never does anything without thinking ten steps ahead, so why?" Lois, ignoring the danger around them, began to pace up and down the street, one arm crossed over her chest and the other cupping her chin as she contemplated what could possibly be Lex's motive.

Chloe didn't need to contemplate.

Chloe already knew.

"Goddamnit, Conner."

* * *

Clark dodged away from another robot, blasting it from afar with his heat vision.

Lex had really outdone himself this time.

Why in the hell did his ex best friend have to be such an evil maniac? Couldn't Lex get a more healthy hobby, like yoga or tai chi? Couldn't he go back to reading comics like he used to when they were younger?

But noooo, instead Lex decided he'd take inspiration from his namesake, Alexander the Great, and turn Metropolis into an all out war zone. And all out war zone that Clark needed backup for because, of course, Lex had somehow managed to get his grubby little hands on what had to be at least a metric ton of kryptonite.

Why was Lex even doing this anyways?

"CLARK JEROME KENT!"

Clark froze.

Slowly, Clark's head creaked to the side. Well. Slow for Clark. He did not hear what he thought he just heard. He did not hear the words in the voice he thought he had heard. Nope. Impossible. Not at all.

Except, apparently, he had heard the words right. He had heard them right because there was Lex, strapped in a shinny battle suit complete with little repulsors on the bottom of his boots keeping him afloat. There Lex was, glaring at him.

Clark coughed.

"You must be confused, Luthor," Clark claimed. "Clark Kent and I-" Clark began.

"Our son told us everything, you magnanimous self centered pathological lying piece of alien excrement." Lex interrupted coldly.

…

Our son? Clark didn't have any children, much less with Lex Luthor, of all peo-

Oh. Ah.

Goddamnit Conner.

Lex began to crack his knuckles through the armor. Clark had a very bad feeling about this.

"Tell me, Clark, why did our child break into my office crying because he thinks you don't want him? Why did Conner have to be the one to inform me of his own existence, and what possible excuse do you have for keeping my own son from me!" Lex snapped.

…

"Wait, what?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say.

With an inhuman roar that reminded Clark of Doomsday on a rampage, Lex charged at him, shiny metal helmet appearing out of… Nowhere, really, covering Lex's face as his fist came swinging, glowing a nauseating green.

* * *

Dad was chasing around Conner's other dad, energy blasts being exchanged back and forth. Clark looked like he was loosing, and dad looked like he was going to enjoy every second of Clark's pain while randomly shouting out about secrets this and secrets that and blah blah.

While shooting at him with a death ray.

A literal death ray.

Metropolis was in shambles, robots were running around everywhere causing random acts of vandalism, and every available member of the Justice League was currently fighting them off to the best of their ability.

Conner turned.

Beside him, Tim stood, arms crossed and dressed impeccably in his Robin suit giving Conner the patented Batman Family(™) 'I told you so' look.

"Shut it, Drake." Conner snapped.

Tim, of course, responded by hitting Conner with a stick again.

Ah. Annoying besties. 

Evil annoying besties.

Regardless, Conner had to put a stop to this before it got out of hand.

Beside them, the Martian Manhunter was slammed into the street, his back digging its way through the asphalt.

...

Okayyy, before things got more out of hand. 

Conner shot a look at Tim. Tim sighed.

"Fine, fine. Lead the way, Kon."

Conner grinned. At least he could rely on Tim. Now... How to separate his parents and stop their little 'spat' from levering Metropolis even more than it already had. Hm...


	3. Confrontations

A/N: Kudos to anyone who can guess what Lex is referring to when he mentions Star Wars

Also, I can't believe the Titans season finale is coming up already. That was... Quick. Short. I won't give any spoilers(cause that's not nice unless you're my little brother, in which case I troll away), but I'm excited

Published: 12/16/2018

Warnings: None

* * *

** Chapter 3 **

**Confrontations**

Leave it to Lex freakin' Luthor to create a suit capable of going toe to toe with a full powered Kryptonian. Clark honestly did not want to know what a teamup between Lex and Bruce would look like. The universe would not survive.

As it was, Clark wasn't sure he would survive.

"Stand still so I can beat the you senseless!" Lex demanded, blasting another nauseating green blast at Clark.

Clark dodged.

Yeah, no.

Clark had been hit with Kryptonite before. There was no way he'd williniling stand still and take a blast of that. Clark liked living. He also liked not being in pain. He very much liked not being in pain. He wasn't sure what his younger self had been thinking when he'd ranted for hours on end about how he was annoyed that nothing could hurt him.

Clark could only conclude he'd afflicted temporary insanity as a child. Temporary insanity that he, gratefully, no longer suffered from.

He was about to suffer from Kryptonite poisoning if he didn't stop Lex in time, though.

Clark decided to go for negotiation. Of all his enemies, Lex Luthor was surprisingly the most willing to sit down and just talk things out. Of course, this usually resulted in Lex talking circles around Clark while looking utterly amused, but details.

So, Clark let himself land on top of one of Metropolis' many skyscrapers. Hands raised in surrender, Clark watched as Lex touched down right in front of him.

Lex wasn't attacking again. So far so good.

"Lex! Can't we talk this out? Okay, look, I'm sorry and okay, I admit, maybe I should have said something-"

Clark should have known better. That had been the wrong thing to say.

"Maybe?! Maybe should have said something?! Maybe?" Lex thundered incredulously, skin flushing red.

Clark rapidly began to imitate his own cape as embarrassment surged in him. Okay, maybe Lex had a point. For once. It was bound to happen eventually, so Clark really shouldn't have been that surprised.

"Okay, definitely should have said something," Clark conceded. "But, in my defense, telling you about Conner would mean I'd have to tell you about-"

That had, apparently, also been the wrong thing to say.

"SECRETS, secrets, secrets! Is that all that matters to you, Clark?"

Clark flared, chest huffing as he took a deep breath. Lex muttered something about oh here we go again and genetic bitch faces, whatever that meant. Clark decided to ignore it. He did not have a bitch face, thank you very much, Lex was just… Overly sensitive.

"My business is my own, Lex! If I want to keep something private, then it's my damn right to do so!" Clark yelled right back.

"Which is perfectly fine when it's your secret! Not when it's my son, you lumbering backwater hillbilly!" Lex shouted.

"Yeah? Look around, Lex!" Clark motioned to the burning city below. "I didn't tell you about Conner because I was scared about how you'd react, and what did you do? You blew up half the city!"

If anything, Lex looked even more offended.

"And there you go! Accusing me falsely without anything to back it, no matter how much evidence contradicts it!"

Now it was Clark's turn to be offended.

"What do you mean, lack of evidence?" Clark repeated, words dipped in liquid skepticism, "There are literally Kryptonite-powered LexCorp robots wrecking the city!"

"Ah, yes Clark. Because my response to unexpected parenthood would be to create a situation that could potentially kill my own child." Lex deadpanned. "Bravo. Brilliant. I never could have seen that coming." Lex rolled his eyes.

…

This was why Clark never liked arguing with Lex. In seconds, Lex had used his uncanny ability of making Clark feel like an idiot to perfection.

Clark did what he usually did when Lex insulted his intelligence or denied accusations which were perfectly logical. He doubled down.

"Of course you'd say something like that! Because, of course, the amazing 'Lex the Great' can never make any mistakes and is never respected for his own actions!"

"I take full responsibility for my sins, thank you!" Lex, ever the pathological liar, somehow managed to say that load of manure with a straight face.

"Lies! Every word you say is a lie! A trick! There's no truth in you!"

"Don't go paraphrasing Star Wars novels at me, Clark! This is a serious discussion about your deceptions and the effects they have on the environment!"

"My 'deceptions' have never left half of Metropolis in ruins, you insane sociopath, and what do you mean Star Wars?"

Lex's face went surprisingly frigid. Cold and frozen and dark, a look that actually bashed shivers to run up and down Clark's spine. Then, without any further warning, face still utterly blank, Lex lifted his arm and-

"STOP!"

Then, the object of their quarrel arrived, feet slamming down into the ground between the pair of them, shattering the concrete. Clark hid his secret identity by using glasses and Kryptonian technology to mess with perceptions of himself.

Conner…

Conner literally would just change his shirt. This was on a good day. On a lazy day, he'd shrug off a flimsy piece of flannel and shoot off into the distance.

The fact that this worked at all really said a lot about the American people.

There Conner stood between the pair of them, arms extended on either side of him towards the two nemesis, eyes darting back and forth frantically.

Conner, and another whose feet Clark heard landing lightly onto the pavement. A quick switch in vision revealed Robin(Clark was honestly surprised Wonder Girl and Impulse hadn't followed, actually), hidden away beneath some sort of light bending device.

Hm. That thing needed work. True, Clark had to tap into an alternate vision sense to see him, but the fact that he could at all meant this was likely a prototype.

"Really, guys? Really?" Conner demanded, sounding genuinely hurt. "Can't you two get along for like, five seconds? Ten? An hour without causing millions in property damage?"

To this, Lex snorted.

"If you wish to accuse someone of property damage, son, I suggest you look to big blue and red over there."

There was that word again. 'Son'. How Lex said it so flippantly, so easily, while Clark himself struggled with the concept was beyond him. To Lex, saying that word seemed as easy as breathing.

To Clark, even acknowledging it was a struggle because it had been so sudden, so unexpected. Unexpected, followed by the chaos of Conner going on a Red K rampage, complete with kidnapping Lois and blasting laser beams at Clark's head.

Wait…

Conner, technically speaking, was a toddler.

…

Oh fuck, was this what was meant by the term 'terrible twos'?

"That primary color obsessed musclehead doesn't know the meaning of the word 'restraint'." Lex continued on, either not realizing Clark's inner turmoil or outright ignoring it. Then, the words properly registered and Clark bristled.

Clark was annoyed by this. He very much knew restraint. He'd known it his entire life. Not knowing it would have resulted in him literally snapping everyone he came across like a toothpick, something he had never done even while under the influence of Red K.

Conner seemed to also take offense and actually turned towards Lex to defend Clark(ha!) before Clark himself beat the teen to the point.

"Excuse me! I'm not the one that goes waltzing around with the arrogance that I'm the only one that can fix the world's problems!" Clark countered.

To this, father and son both turned, shooting Clark identical incredulous looks, eyes raking up and down Clark's costume.

…

"Okay, I can concede that I'm a bit… Arrogant myself." Clark admitted.

…

"You call yourself Superman." Lex pointed out helpfully.

…

.

"Okay, fine! I'm an arrogant jackass!" Clark confessed, even if he didn't quite believe it himself. "Don't deny that you're worse, though!" Clark snapped.

Lex's face scrunched.

"Worse? Worse? What are you, Clark? An overgrown child? Is this a contest to you?" Lex demanded. Then, in a ridiculous high pitched voice, Lex began to mercilessly mock him. "Oh, Miss, it doesn't matter that I was bad, so was the other kid!"

Clark twitched.

Conner's head snapped up at that.

"You know his na- I mean, who's Clark, hehe?" Conner scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

It was at this point that Clark had to close his eyes, count to five, and breath. Breath, before opening them again.

Nope.

Nothing changing.

This was, sadly, not an elaborate nightmare.

Lex sighed, gazing accusingly at Clark. "I see you've infected our child with your pathological habit of lying badly."

"Hey!" Clark and Conner both exclaimed in reproach.

"Example," Lex continued on, turning slightly. "Bruce Wayne has a habit of adopting helpless orphans with anger management problems. Latest adoptee: Timothy Drake."

With that, Lex fired a laser beam at, what to him, should look like thin air.

Tim's body hit the ground in a roll, appearing in a shimmer of light as he dodged. The experimental Waynetech Stealth Belt did not approve of sudden movements, the sudden action jolting it, causing it to stop refracting light in a way to conceal the current Robin.

"Tim! Don't hurt him!" Conner snarled, stalking forth.

To this, Lex shot him a raised eyebrow look.

"Hurt? Oh, never. I just wanted young Mr. Drake to reveal himself. I even aimed far above the head." Lex claimed.

Tim, rising to his feet, nodded.

"He did. Shot a full meter above me. I… Might have panicked a little." Tim confessed, sounding embarrassed. Then, his eyes widened. "Wait, you know my name?!"

Lex gave the boy a patient look.

"Of course I know your name. I reversed Watchtower's piggyback into my system a few months ago. She really ought to be more careful."

"... and you accuse Batman of invading people's privacy." Tim said, shooting a pointed look at Clark.

"Watchtower doesn't have an arrangement of files to take us all down if we go rogue." Clark pointed out.

To this, the other three again shot him incredulous looks, including Conner, who usually looked at Clark as if Clark had personally hung the moon and the stars up each night. Clark was certain he would not be walking off of this roof with his self esteem intact. Nope, no way.

"Chlo' literally keeps giant stashes of Kryptonite stored away in case you go rogue." Conner pointed out, not giving a damn about secret identities and what not.

And, speaking of secret identities…

"Conner! How could you tell Lex my secret?" Clark asked, truly heartbroken by this violation in trust. Nevermind the fact that Conner had been surprised that Lex knew his secret. Clark was sure Conner had let it slip somehow.

He would not be surprised. Conner was not the poster child of covertness. He was the opposite of covert. He was so opposite of covert that Clark once had to stop him from signing a contract selling the Superboy name to a man whose last name was Leech.

If that wasn't a red flag, Clark wasn't sure what was.

"He didn't tell me, you alien moron!" Lex exploded. "I knew all along!" Lex paused. "Okay, I'll admit, not all along, but I'm not an idiot and I put the pieces together and you do realize I waited a full day after I had infected you with radiation to tell you about it, right?"

Oh hell, Clark had forgot Lex and his creepy stalker ways had done that. It's why he had been spending so much time in Russia, actually. Farther from Metropolis, the better.

"Wait, radiation?" Tim exclaimed, shooting Clark a wide eyed look before notably taking a step back.

Lex rolled his eyes.

"It's non lethal, don't worry." Lex assured. "All it does is make him look like a big neon sign in the right light spectrum."

Conner began to quint at Clark.

"Oh yeah! Huh. I see it. How in the name of Rao did you not notice that?" Conner asked, once more gazing at Clark as if he were an idiot.

If it wasn't for the fact that Tim was giving him the exact same look, Clark would be convinced it was Lex's evil villain genetics. As it was, Clark was instead convinced that Lex was corrupting poor impressionable minors.

…

Oh god.

Had… Had Lex also infected Clark when he was a teenager? Just when he had thought Lex Luthor's evilness had bounds, he was hit with this bombshell.

"Oh great. He's got that face on." Lex complained.

"What face?" Tim asked.

"The 'Im utterly convinced Lex did something bad even though I have zero evidence to support it face'." Lex shamelessly continued his corruption of teenagers.

From the way Tim was frowning at him, it was working. This was not good. Bruce would never forgive him if he let Lex twist the mind of his precious protege.

(Elsewhere, Batman had the bizarre urge to laugh at the concept of anyone trying to corrupt Tim(also elsewhere, Ra's al Ghul sneezed))

"In my defense, I'm usually right." Clark could not help but point out.

Notably, Lex did not answer.

"Wait," Tim said, turning towards Lex. "If you didn't set the LexCorp robots on Metropolis… Who did?"

Lex blinked.

"I assumed that was Watchtower, actually. She did breach my network recently when she hacked into my office surveillance video." Lex said.

Clark would not stand for this steaming pile of bullshit.

"So now you're accusing Chloe of trying to commit mass murder?" Clark demanded, outraged.

"Wait, wait, office camera?" Conner interrupted, sounding uncharacteristically panicked. Clark could not help but narrow his eyes in suspicion. What, exactly, was going on around here?

(Crap, crap, crap, I was a literal embarrassment last night, can't let that get out. Hm. Blackmail Chloe? Blackmail it is!)

"Yes. Worry not, my wonderful child, this is hardly the first time she's done this, so I do have parameters to keep her, or others, from getting anything coherent from those."

"Of course you do," Clark muttered.

Lex spun on him.

"Yes, Clark, of course I do. I have a superpowered nosy has-never-heard-of-privacy reporter that seems to have made it his personal mission in life to stick his head in my business!"

"I wouldn't have to be a nosy has-never-heard-of-privacy reporter if you weren't so goddamned vile and inhumane!"

"The irony of being labeled as inhuman by a literal alien." Eyeroll.

"If anything, that should prove to you how utterly twisted you are!" Clark snarled.

"Oh my god," Tim gasped, "you two argue like an old married couple!"

Clark's jaw dropped. At the very least, he was not alone in this as Lex's touched down seconds after his own.

Conner actually looked victorious as he twirled, literally twirled, towards Tim.

Tim balanced. "No- Kon, no. I know that look."

Conner ignored it. Instead, Clark was besieged with the sight of his kind of kid / little brother / something bouncing up and down like a boy at a candy store, eyes darting back and forth between Clark and Lex.

What?

The utter confusion was enough for Clark to do something he hadn't done in years. Something he hadn't done since he was young and in high school and idealistic about people and the world.

He turned to Lex for help. The guy seemed to be better at this parenting thing anyways, so Lex should be able to help.

(And wasn't that just the mother of all ironies, considering Lex was raised by a homicidal maniac, while Clark was raised by two loving parents that would give the world for him)

Lex, however, did not meet his gaze. No. Instead, Clark was treated to the rare of sight of a horrified Lex Luthor, which really was not something you saw every day.

"Conner- NO." Lex emphasized.

Conner's expression fell.

"But-"

"I will… Try to get along with Kenobi over there," Lex conceded with a veiled whispered hiss about half truths and deceptions, "but, that does not mean- that."

Clark could legitimately state he had no idea what was going on.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Luthor." Tim added.

Clark winced. Fuck. It was too late. Lex had twisted the poor boy onto the path of darkness. Bruce would never forgive him.

Conner looked back and forth between his best friend and his rather bad choice of parental figure(seriously, if Conner had needed Clark to act more like a dad, he should have said something(okay, so Clark would have probably run for the hills if Conner actually had done that, but details)), before a sigh escaped the teens lips.

"Okay. I guess I can live with that." Conner conceded, although to what Clark had no idea. Instead, Conner turned to him and grin. "So, does this mean we can be one big happy family? Can I-"

"WAIT!" Tim screeched so loudly Clark wondered if the boy wasn't the secret love child of Bruce Wayne and Black Canary. All eyes turned towards him.

Tim was gazing at Lex, lifting an accusing finger.

"If you didn't set the robots on Metropolis- and, I'll admit, setting robots on Metropolis does sound weird, even for you-"

"Did this teenager seriously just say that to my face?"

"But," Tim continued, ignoring the interruption entirely, "if you didn't set the robots on the city, who did?"

You could hear a pin drop.

Silence.

"I… Genuinely don't know, to be honest. I was more concerned with stopping the carnage than finding the cause." Lex confessed.

"Carnage you caused…" Clark hissed.

Conner, without missing a beat, turned and flung a rock at Clark's head. Clark blinked as the projectile did… Well, nothing really, bullets couldn't pierce him, but the intent was clear from the sharp eyed look the teen shot him.

O… Kay. Clark would apparently have to give a supervillain the benefit of the doubt. Oh joy. Was this his life now?

Tim, horrifyingly, looked like he was taking Lex seriously. The teen lifted a curled hand to his face, foot stomping slightly, deep in thought.

"It didn't make much sense to me after I thought about it. I mean, seriously, you're a Super Villian, so going around and causing mayhem should be your thing-"

"Once more, I object."

"But you never do anything without benefit, since you're not a batshit megalomaniac like the Joker-"

"The fact that you called him batshit really says something about your own boss, Drake."

"So, the question then becomes, who would do this, and why?" Tim continued on, not at all perturbed by Lex's constant interruptions.

Conner hummed happily to himself.

"My dad and my bestie get along. Now, as soon as get rid of the robots, this will officially be the best day ever."

Clark could not help it. He finally surrendered to the temptation and face palmed.

Wait…

If Tim was right and Lex really was innocent(which, frankly, was such a microscopic chance that Clark wasn't even sure why he was contemplating it), the real question shouldn't be who would want to cause so much mayhem, but who could? It wasn't like Lex's security was lax and, other than Chloe, there weren't many that could break their way in.

Especially break their way in without Lex noticing.

So… The question was not why would, but who could.

Half a mile away, red glowed in the eyes of one of the robots battling toe to toe with Wonder Woman.

Hank Henshaw would see Superman ended, if it was the last thing he did.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hank Henshaw is the Cyborg Superman, aka the main antagonist of the comic arc that introduced Conner.

For the record, the comic version was wayyyy bloodier than the movie, Darkseid was not in fact involved, Henshaw ranked up a kill count in the millions, and he managed to break Green Lantern and turn him evil

Henshaw is basically a mix of Brainiac(Smallville version) and Clark. His soul is basically latched onto machinery and he can mimic Clark's genetic structure to the point where Star Labs weren't able to tell he wasn't actually Superman based on his DNA.

Okkkkay, in other news:

YJ comic is back! And so is the cartoon. And Reign of the Supermen was awesome.

And Conner is apparently the next Titans season because of course he is

And I totally agree with Tumblr. This is the year of the Superboy.

Published: 1/22/2018

Warnings: None

* * *

 

**Chapter 4**

**I'm a Dad Now**

Okay, so maybe Conner's priorities were not as on point as they should have been considering the current situation, but hey, his parents were actually somewhat getting along.

Well, if getting along translated to the pair of them snarking at each other back and forth. Considering this was Conner's usual relationship with Tim, he considered this progress.

Although, snarking was the wrong word, Conner supposed. It was mostly a one sided massacre, with Lex stating this or that while Clark kinda just rolled with the hits and tried to strike back as best he could.

Honesty, he wasn't getting very far. Lex was a master wordsmith. As expected of the future president of the United States.

"Maybe we should concentrate on finding out who, exactly, triggered the killer robots?" Tim decided to interrupt.

Lex rolled his eyes.

"They aren't killer robots. Their anti Kryptonian robots. I've hardwired do-not-harm-humans into their make up to the point that tying to disable that feature would cause them to implode." Lex said hauntingly.

Conner lurched.

"You… Made weapons against me and Superman?"

Lex crossed his arms.

"I made weapons against sociopaths like Zod." Lex corrected. "They're designed to incapacitate, not kill. Have you ever been possessed? It's not fun. It's not fun at all."

Clark lurched, almost falling over before getting his bearings back. Staring wide eyed at Lex, Clark spoke.

"You remember that?!"

Lex glared at him.

"No, you incompetent moron. I did, however, manage to hack into Oliver Queen's satellites and found the images. Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only had I'd gotten possessed by a Kryptonian manic bent on world domination but also, and oh gosh darn it, it just slipped Clark's mind ta tell meh!" Lex slipped into a rather bad southern accent.

Clark winced.

"How long have you know?"

"Since this morning, you secret hoarding draconian." Lex snipped.

Tim frowned.

"Wait, if you've known since this morning, they couldn't possible be a defense against Zod." Tim pointed out.

"I knew about Zod. I could find enough evidence of him. I just didn't realize there was a link between the two of us before and please," Lex turned to Clark, "for the love of all that is holy and in the name of Warrior Angel, please tell me you made sure there wasn't some sort of residual link that Zod could use to repossess me and/or remote control me."

Clark opened his mouth before snapping it shut again. Fuck. Had they done something about that? All Clark could really remember was that Zod had given him a choice, Lex or the world, and Clark…

Clark had chosen Lex, despite the fact they hadn't been anywhere remotely close to civil in months with one another, and nearly lost the world in the process.

Sure, he'd managed to banish Zod back to the zone and they did(eventually) manage to get Brainiac out of the Fortress of Solitude, but not only had been a chore and a half, the death of Dark Thursday had been catastrophic.

The entire time they had not, however…

Er…

The guilt showed on his face clear as day.

"Oh, for fuck sakes Clark." Lex facepalmed.

"Zod has a physical body again, so it's not like he's going to try the possession thing again!" Clark defended himself. This was true. Zod had merged with his clone, meaning he was no longer a body snatching phantom.

"So? That doesn't mean he hasn't left some sort of subliminal command in my head!"

Clark snorted, arms crossing over his chest.

"Even if he had, they'd of been erased since the body you're in now isn't the original." Clark reminded Lex.

The other three froze.

Oh. Oh crap, had no one been aware of that?

"What do you mean," Lex said slowly, menacingly, "that this isn't the original body?"

Clark winced.

"Okay. So… Green Arrow might have blown you into itty little pieces and Lionel might have resurrected you through the power of cloning." Clark admitted.

Lex stared at him.

"Clark… It doesn't- I see." Lex looked away, voice cracking slightly. What? Clark looked towards Conner and Tim, to see if they understood any better than he did. Tim was looking at Lex in sympathy, of all things, and Conner had a look of realization which meant, yet again, Clark was the one left out of the secret.

This was becoming too common. Clark was used to this being the other way around.

Lex turned towards Tim.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but if I give you access to the main hub for LexTower security, how quickly can you track the breach and how quickly can you put these robots out of commission?" Lex told the boy.

Tim cracked his knuckles.

"Gimme 15 minutes, 20 tops." the boy boasted.

Then, they all heard an ominous beeping sound. Turning, they locked eyes on one of the robots. Said robot that had stopped in midair to stare at them, its photoreceptors scanning them.

"Code Red. Repeat. Code Red. Priority Gamma. Target found. Target found! Exterminate!"

With that, the robot lifted an arm, the end of it transforming into a cannon. A cannon that was aimed straight at Robin.

The four of them scattered, Clark rising up high and opening fire with his laser vision. Below, he watched the rooftop explode, chunks flying everywhere.

That had been a kill shot.

That had been an over killshot, coming from robots that Lex had claimed would explode if they attempted to kill a huma-

The robot promptly exploded.

Lex snarled, floating beside him on his little mini repulsors. On Clark's other side, Conner appeared with Tim, hand latched onto the others shoulder to keep him afloat using his telekinetic powers.

"Whoever's doing this, they're trying to override my failsafe lock- and they're getting closer." Lex admitted with grit teeth.

"But why attack Tim?" Conner asked. "Sure, he claimed he could do disable them, but that doesn't mean they know he can."

Tim's eyes widened.

"He's right. The robots will try and eliminate anyone their creator thinks can hack in and disable them. Which means, they probably have a list." Tim said.

Clark turned to him.

"Other than you, do we have anyone else in the city capable of hacking into LexCorp security software?"

"My system is not that hackable, Kal-El." Lex snapped. Clark flinched. The only other times Lex had called him Kal had been bloody. Very bloody. Bring down the Fortress of Solitude or trigger the Apokolypse bloody. "I doubt there's more than half a dozen people alive that can do it."

"He's right," Tim assessed. "Other than me, there's Oracle, Nightwing, and Watchtower. That makes four."

Conner blinked at Tim.

"Bats can't hack, but three of his apprentices can?"

Tim stared at his best friend for several seconds before deciding, fuck it, he's risk it, even if they were floating a thousand miles off the ground.

"Owe! Seriously, where do you hide that staff?!"

Lex rolled his eyes.

"I already know about Oracle, batbrat." Lex informed them. "I told you. Sullivan had very detailed files."

"... I'm burning her server later on." Clark decided. Yes, Chloe would kill him, but it would be for the greater good. Then, another realization hit him. "Wait, Chloe's down in the city now!" Clark spun, eyes zooming about, tying to track the proverbial needle in the haystack.

"Presuming 'Priority Gamma' means third target, that would mean either Oracle, Nightwing, or another target we haven't anticipated is also on the list." Lex decided to helpfully interject.

Clark shot him a narrow eyed glared.

"Lex-" Clark began.

Conner put an a hand on Clark's shoulder, halting his speech. Looking up, he met the teenagers gaze.

"Go find Chloe. Me and dad will get Tim to mainframe and hopefully shut this all down."

Clark spluttered incoherently.

"Dad?!" Clark repeated incredulously.

Conner blushed.

Lex beamed victoriously, which, honestly, he looked like he kind of needed it considering how utterly depressed he'd looked after Clark had revealed his resurrection. What was up with that?

"Don't just stand there, Kal." Lex said, and not for the first time Clark got the impression that he'd fucked something up without realizing it, "go find your friend." Lex told him before turning towards Tim. "Oracle and Nightwing?"

"Probably on their honeymoon while adamantly denying they're married." Tim shrugged.

Conner shot him a look.

"Wait, they aren't married?"

"They keep doing this on and off thing. It's outrageously obnoxious and blah." Tim's face scrunched in annoyance.

"Robots." Lex reminded.

"Right! Robots! Move out, people!" Tim declared before looking at Lex expectably.

Oh right. Lex was suppose to lead them. And Clark… Clark was suppose to go find Chloe. Right. Guard Chloe, leave Conner and Tim in the presence of one of the most dangerous supervillains of all time while going on a mission to stop killer robots, and hope it doesn't backfire.

When Bruce tried to kill him for sacrificing his child to Mr. Clean Satan, Diana would probably help.

With one last nod to the others, Clark turned and blasted away.

Chloe, he honestly couldn't focus enough to find.

Lois, though?

Clark could hear her heartbeat from the other side of the planet. Focusing in on that, Clark zoomed his way towards it. If anyone knew where Chloe was, it would be Lois.

* * *

 

Name: Alexander Luthor.

Status: Deceased.

Lex Luthor was dead. Lex Luthor, the real Lex Luthor, was dead and gone and the current Lex was just an amalgamation of his scattered memories, a being that thought he was Lex but really wasn't.

That… Was a hard pill to swallow.

Clark didn't even seem to realize it. He truly believed Lex was the Lex he'd known since high school when, in reality, Lex was something new entirely that an alternate version of his father had pieced together through science and experimentation. Idiot moronic alien.

Lex turned to Conner.

"I suppose, given the current revelations, that makes us more akin to brothers than father and son?" Lex asked. Conner, unlike Clark, was not an utter moron and, from the look on the boy's face, he'd seen what Clark had not.

He knew the real Lex was dead, and that the current was just an imitation. Lex the Second, of you would.

Conner blanched.

"I- if that's what you want." Conner told him before zooming off with a protesting Robin. Counterproductive, really, when Lex was the only one who actually knew the path they needed to take.

Lex twitched. Oh hell no. This boy was just like Clark in all the most infuriating ways. Clark also had the annoying habit of not telling him exactly what he meant, running off, them coming back annoyed later because Lex did not have telepathy and therefore had not read Clark's mind to find out what he wanted.

Conner zoomed back towards him with a sheepish look on his face.

"Er… Where to, pops?" Conner asked.

Pops… Right. The boy wanted a father figure. Ah. Lex got it. Lex telling him they were more akin to siblings had probably stung. From what he understood, that was the same way Clark characterized his relationship with Conner as well, and Conner evidently did not like it. At all.

Regardless… The boy was clinging to an idea that wasn't there. His father was dead. The real Lex Luthor died before Conner Kent had even been breathed, one of the many felled by Oliver Queen.

Lex wanted to kill the man for it, but what would that accomplish? Oliver hadn't killed him. He'd killed the real Lex. The current Lex was nothing but a copy. A fake. An imitation, pretending at reality.

Not that Lex personally believed clones weren't people. No. That would mean Conner wasn't a person and Conner was very much a person.

The primary difference, of course, being that Conner wasn't pretending to be Lex. All he was was himself. Lex wasn't. Who was he, really?

Lex was so deep in thought over it all that he hadn't even realized he'd landed. Hell, he hadn't even realized he'd led them to the mainframe, and they were standing right before the entrance.

"Okay, I know you're kinda going through shocking revelations and philosophical blah blah, butttt… Mind opening this lock?" Drake's voice drawled over Lex's senses. Lex looked up to spot the teen standing expectantly before the door to the mainframe, locked thirteen different ways with half a dozen traps designed to kill anyone who dared access it while unauthorized.

Oh. Right.

"Can't you hack through the door too?" Conner asked.

Robin shrugged.

"I could. Totally could. It would cost us valuable time, but I could." Robin assessed before giving Lex another look.

"Right. Right. Okay." Lex strode forth, placing his palm on the scanner before another probe came towards his face, scanning his eye.

His fake eye. Everything about him was fake. Fake, fake, fake.

Half a dozen motions later, the door opened, the swirling locks clicking into place as the entrance unveiled itself.

"I could have probably broken that down faster using my Tactile Telekinesis." Conner complained.

Lex blanched. He'd never (surprisingly) been subjected to one of Superboy's famous rants about his powers(seriously, Conner should learn not to give so damn much away), but he had of course heard of said rants and did not want to be subjected to one.

"Yes, and trigger whatever Kryptonite trap your dad had in case Superman came barging in." Robin drawled, striding in like he owned be place.

"You know what, why am I even friends with you, you arrogant midget ma- DOWN!"

It was a surprise. Lex shouldn't have been surprised. All in all, he should have expected there to be a guard. It was the logical thing to do, considered the robots were hunting down potential targets who could potentially breach Lex's security mainframe.

Lex blamed Clark for scrambling his brains. Either way, the second they entered half a dozen of his robot opened fire, two of them combusting immediately after when their do-not-harm-humans programming kicked in. Another third spasmed a bit as if shocked before righting itself.

"I think they got past your programming!" Robin decided to helpfully interject.

Conner was trying, rather stupidly, to guard the boy. Rather stupidly because head robots had been designed with Kryptonians in mind. The Kryptonite mix wouldn't kill, otherwise Lex would have gone for full green, but the more blows they landed the weaker Conner would get.

"Kon! Maneuver 16!" Robin called.

"Got it!"

Conner zoomed up into the air towards the ceiling as Robin sped forth. Two shuriken went flying towards the robots, impaling in before exploding. Conner himself landed in a crouch behind the robots, hands splayed across the ground.

Instantly, the floor ripped itself apart, massive chunks wrapping around the machines like a flower blossoming in reverse. Said ball crumbled rapidly, compressing tightly, snagging anything unfortunate enough to be caught within.

Lex gaped a bit.

"Yes!" Conner cheered, standing to full height and pumping a fist in the air. "I'd like to see Superman pull that one off! Tactile Telekinesis for the win, baby!"

Lex… Had not been aware Conner could do that. At all. Alright, so he knew Conner could affect things he touched to the point where he'd once been spotted making a literal castle out of clouds he'd solidified(see issues of Batgirl for reference, can't remember which one), but there was a difference between that and this.

Lex didn't make his robots cheap and Conner had just crushed several of them as easy as balling up a wad of paper. Perhaps it had something to do with the shuriken the boy wonder had tossed, Lex theorized.

"You made sure not to damage the computer, right?" Robin, apparently nowhere near as impressed as Lex, strode right by.

Conner huffed, lowering his arms and pouting at the other teenager. Ah. His son was a showoff. A show off that was displeased his intended audience was not awed.

Lex was slightly offended the intended audience was not him but Drake.

"'Course, Rob. What do you take me for?" Conner asked.

"Honestly? If I didn't know any better, half the time I'd think you and Bart are twins." Robin proclaimed, fingers picking away at the mainframe.

Conner rolled his eyes. Not that Robin could see, but details.

"You're just jealous of of metahuman swagger." Conner somehow managed to state this with a straight face.

…

Lex was pretty sure the parent were the ones that were supposed to embarrass the children but, right now, Conner was doing a pretty good job of reversing that particular equitation. Maybe more of that famed Tactile Telekinesis.

The sound of metallic feet landing drew their attention. Turning, Lex watched as more of his commandeered robots began to make their way towards them.

"Priority shifted to alpha. Repeat. Priority shifted to alpha. Operation: To Kill a Mockingbird is a go."

"Did that robot just call me a mockingbird!?"

"More working, less snakring!" Lex snapped before tossing himself at the robots, power suit already beginning to glow. Conner fell in step behind him, all to guard one little teenager in the hopes that said teen could stop the robot maniacs plaguing the city. Joy.

* * *

 

Chloe realized rather quickly the moment the robots went from property damage scions of destruction to assassin droids protocols. How?

Well, it's pretty easy to tell when you're dodging laser fire.

"Now he's trying to kill you? Lex has seriously lost it!" Lois decided to helpfully add as the two cousins ducked behind a car. Which, honestly, wasn't going to provide much cover. People were running up and down the street in panic, there were at least a dozen fires, and Chloe was pretty sure the only reason she wasn't dead was because the robots kept exploding whenever they tried to kill her.

Which was counterproductive. Why on earth would Lex build robots designed to combust when attacking their mark?

…

"Lex isn't doing this," Chloe realized with a start.

Lois stared at her wide-eyed.

"If Lex isn't doing it, honey, then who is?"

"I-"

The car they'd been using as cover was unceremoniously flung away. Leaping up to their feet, the two cousins stared into the glowing eyes of one of the LexCorp Robots.

"Target acquired. Repeat. Target acquired. Exterminate!"

Exterminate? What was this? Doctor Who? Before the robot could do much more than move, however, an arm suddenly sprouted from its chest, too quick to see. An arm covered in dark blue spandex. A second joined it, tearing the robot in half.

Clark. Superman. They were going to be fine. They were going to be okay. They-

The figure before them looked like Clark. He had a face identical to Clark's. Part of it, anyways. Half of it was covered in gleaming metal, gleaming metal that adorned half his body. A malicious grin overtook the fake Clark's face, although that might have more to do with the metal teeth and jaw not covered by skin or flesh than anything else.

"Target acquired."

Before Chloe could even think to move, the Cyborg Superman was before her, hand raised and fingers splayed against her forehead, the tips just barely touching against her skin.

The world went white.

* * *

 

Clark arrived a moment too late. Not too late in the concept of dead Chloe, because really, if that was the case Clark just might risk the whole try and change the past thing again(even if that had backfired rather terrible last time, but still, Chlo), but he did arrive in time to watch Chloe collapse while a robotic version of him stood victorious over her prone body.

"Target successfully neutralized. Report, Code: Four-alpha-six-bra-"

Clark didn't let the imposter finish. Spinning him around, Clark clocked him hard, sending him flying and straight into the side of a skyscraper.

"Chloe! Damn it, Chloe! Don't you- don't you die on me!" Lois was clinging to Chloe's downed body, tears streaming down her face. Clark couldn't blame her. If only he'd been quicker, if only he hadn't spent so much time trying to psychoanalyze Lex, if only-

White light, pure and blinding, erupted from Chloe's body. Lois flinched back in awed surprise as Chloe's body heaved once, twice, before her eyes snapped open. The white glow flowed through her a second time before flickering away. Eyes falling shut, Chloe's head swayed.

And, she started to snore.

Clark opened his mouth. Before he could even get a word out, a pair of hands latched onto him and dragged him away as he was caught in the imposter's grip.

"Superman, Superman, Superman! You have no idea how long I've waited to make you pay for what you did!" The Cyborg grinned at him psychotically(helped very much by the fact that one of his eyes literally flowed red), of all things, as opposed to the previous robotic motions.

Knowing supervillains, Clark probably forgot to notice the guy's kitten was stuck up in a tree. Villains were very melodramatic about those kinds of things. Still, Clark wasn't about to let himself get beaten to a pulp.

Smacking the hands aside, Clark shifted back before kicking out. His foot smashed into the fascimilie's side, sending it smashing to the ground. This cyborg was going down.

Tim typed away. Whoever the other hacker was, they were good. Really good. So good, in fact, that Tim was starting to suspect his opponent wasn't a person at all.

"Where's Vic Stone when you need him?" Tim muttered to himself.

An explosion sounded behind him. Twitching, Tim turned to glare at Kon and Luthor, both beating robots left and right. Kon had just eviscerated one with heat vision which had caused the explosion and was currently dodging out of the Kryptonite range of another robot.

Seriously. Did Luthor have all of Krypton stored here in rock form?

"Keep it down, would you!" Tim called.

Kon shot him a sharp smoldering glare, eyes still glowing red. Tim's heart did a weird little beat.

"Hurry it up, would you?" Kon snarked.

"Yeah, yeah." Tim dismissed, turning away and back to the mainframe. Alright. Everytime he managed to block one access point a dozen more would open. His opponent seemed to know everything Tim was doing, even before he'd done it. He couldn't even track where it was coming from. All the signals traced back to this very computer, which was impossible unless they were literally inside the machine.

Inside…

Oh. Duh. Duh! Tim felt like smacking himself. Of course. The Cyborg analogy was better than he'd anticipated. It matched perfectly. Whoever the hell he was fighting was in the machine.

They'd uploaded themselves to the mainframe…

What was this, Final Fantasy VII?

Well, only one thing for it then. Luthor would forgive him. Or, at the very least, Kon would stop Luthor from killing Tim thirteen different ways.

Tim couldn't save the mainframe. Maybe if Babs and Dick were here, the three of them could do it together. Maybe, but not enough time. There was only one solution for it.

Make it go boom.

Bart would be so proud.

Clark knew the moment it was over. It was kind of obvious, with the way the Cyborg Superman just stopped in mid air before him before collapsing into literal parts. The rest of the robots followed, some breaking apart entirely and others just sort of fizzling out before collapsing.

Looking around, Clark spotted Batman, the Dark Knight taking a step away from half a dozen robots he'd probably taken out before Robin's hacking did its work. He did need to check on Chloe, but… First thing first. Congratulations were due.

Clark landed next to Bruce.

"You know, I kind of didn't believe Robin when he said he could hack his way through Lex's mainframe and shut down the robots, but man did he deliver." Clark told the other without preamble.

Bruce froze.

"Superman… How did Robin get near the mainframe?" Batman, and not Bruce because that was definitely the Batman voice, hissed furiously.

Clark didn't see the danger. Poor, poor Clark.

"Lex led him and Superboy there. Lex claims he didn't set the robots on the city and, while I had my doubts, I think he was telling the truth, all things considered." Clark answered honestly. Considering the robots were, in fact, out of commission, Clark could give Lex the benefit of the doubt, just this once.

Bruce apparently did not extend that particular courtesy, eye twitching below his cowl.

"Er… Bruce?" Clark asked, taking a small step back as he finally noticed how waves of rage seemed to be flowing off of Bruce.

"You left my son alone with Lex Luthor, a sociopathic monster so dangerous he is literally at the top of the Justice League's list for potential threats to global peace from within?" Batman snapped.

Oh hell. Clark had actually forgotten about the whole Lex-corrupting-teenagers bit.

"Sorry, gotta go, Chloe needs me, bye!" Clark zoomed off, leaving a twitching Bruce behind.

This… Was so going to bite him in the ass later on.

Regardless, the battle was over, so it was time to clean things up a bit.

* * *

 

In the days that followed, Chloe herself recovered from whatever the Cyborg had done. The return of her healing powers had apparently burned any impurities from her body, so they couldn't even tell what the Cyborg had tried to do. Not that it mattered. The cyborg was gone.

At least, that's what was assumed.

Hank Henshaw dropped the hogtied body of Lana Lang before his master. Before him, Darkseid watched impassively, arms crossed behind his back.

Henshaw met his gaze.

"It's done, Master. Not only did I succeed in retrieving the few remaining shards of Brainiac within Sullivan, I also retrieved the Valkyrie as requested." Henshaw spoke.

Darkseid smiled. The Legion of Superheroes had believed they'd purged every ounce of Brainiac from Sullivan, but Darkseid had known better. If they had, her powers would have been restored. As it was, the woman could heal again, but it was of no consequence.

Darkseid had what he needed to continue on with the plan. There was only but one last piece to put into place.

* * *

 

A week later found Clark rather reluctantly taking Conner to Lex's for the weekend. Even midair, Conner looked excited. Like a little kid during their first time at Disney World(the author has never been to Disney World nor would they want to, bleh, too many people).

"- and I know he's probably gonna be, like, really busy, 'cause Lex Luthor and all, but I'm really really excited and this is the best and you're the best and I'm glad you guys are getting along better and hopefully I can talk dad out of trying to kill you or mess with you as often as he does, but I don't think he's really trying to kill you, pretty sure he's just trolling you and I-"

Clark wondered were the babbling came from. As far a he knew, neither he nor Lex babbled, but who knows. Maybe Lex had babbled as a child. That would be just the thing someone like Lionel would work to stamp out.

"You can call me dad too, you know." Clark interrupted gently.

Conner froze mid flight, turning to stare at him with wide eyed. Clark instantly regretted his words. Okay. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Maybe he should have eased into that kind of territory. Maybe-

One second, Conner was hovering before him. The next, he was clinging to Clark like a sloth on a tree.

"I always wanted to call you dad but you said we were more like brothers and then you sent me off to live with Ma, so it really was like we were brothers even though we really aren't and I didn't wanna be a nag, because seriously, that's just annoying but this is so awesome-"

Clark laughed and hugged right back.

Son… Clark had a son. A fully grown son who's mental state was in some bizarre place, a mix of child and teen, but a son nonetheless. A son that he loved and cared for.

A son with Lex, of all people.

Lois had been totally right and there was no way she was ever going to let Clark live it down.

Before Clark knew it, they were already at Lex's penthouse. Lex let them in easily enough and Conner shot off, apparently intent on exploring every inch of the place as Clark and Lex stood there awkwardly.

"I should… Go." Clark fidgeted slightly, turning to do just that. Conner would be safe here. If there was one truth Clark knew, it was that Lex cared for Conner. Weird as it was, it was true.

"Clark." Lex stopped him. Clark froze. Lex hadn't called him Clark in years. It was always Kent or Superman or Kal, but not Clark. Not Clark and not in that tone.

It reminded him of a simpler time, when he and Lex would just gaze at the stars or hang out and do stupid shit before all the messes and fighting and the drama drove their friendship into mutual loathing and animosity.

Clark turned.

Lex looked slightly frightened. That was another bizarre sight. Still, Lex seemed to compose himself before speaking.

"As long as there are no more secrets pertaining me specifically," Lex emphasized the 'me' part of that sentence, "I'd like to try being friends again."

Clark gaped a bit.

Lex… Lex was extending the olive branch? Clark must have died and landing in an alternate universe. Regardless, the offer was temping. Working with Lex instead of having to fight him at every turn sounded like a godsend.

But… We're there any other major secrets that Lex needed to know about? Lex had emphasized the me in the sentence, making it clear he didn't expect all of Clark's secrets, just secrets that related directly to Lex himself.

So, what? Maybe that bit about Lionel getting a personality rewrite by Jor-El? Nah. That was history. It no longer mattered. Was there anything Lex absolutely needed to know?

Maybe… Maybe the bit about how the alternate Lionel had made a deal with Darkseid to get Lex's soul back from the other side?

…

Nah. Lex didn't need to know any of that. What could possible be the harm in letting it go? It's not like it mattered anymore.

So, putting the thought aside, Clark smiled and extended a hand out.

"Friends."

Friends again. At last.

The moment was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. Clark and Lex both froze, turning in the direction.

"Anything he breaks, you're paying for. He's your child." Lex informed Clark before rushing off towards the hallway.

Clark spluttered.

"Wha- he's your kid too, Lex! You can't just pawn him off on me whenever he's bad!"

Lex stuck his head in the room just long enough to meet Clark's gaze and say, "Watch me," before he was off.

Clark groaned. What, exactly, had he gotten himself into?

Elsewhere, Darkseid smiled. The last piece… Was right where he wanted it to be.


End file.
